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MR. MALEOM, OF FLOEIDA, 

St 



ON THE 



RELATIONS OP THE UNITED STATES WITH CUBA. 



Towbrs, printer. 



Library of Congress. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Chap.- 
Shelf- 



<f 



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JI'Ai?/o 



OP 

\ MR. MALLOET, OF FLORIDA, 

■■ On the delations between Cuba and the United States ; 
and on the Expediency of modifying Commercial Res- 
trictions on the Cuban Trade. 



A bill for the repeal of the acts " concerning tonnage duty on 
Spanish vessels," passed the 13th of July, 1832, and the 30th of 
June, 1834, is now before Congress; and the object of this re- 
port is to awaken public attention to our trade and commercial 
regulations with Cuba, and to point out, especially to the agri- 
cultural and manufacturing interests of our country, the blight- 
ing effects thereon of the acts in question, and the expediency of 
rescinding them. The attention of these leading interests has, on 
several occasions, been called to this subject, but various causes, 
aided by a srr all opposing interest, have combined to divert it ; 
and it is believed that this important branch of trade, lying at 
our very doors, is less accurately understood than is our trade 
with Europe generally. 

In the year 1849, in compliance with a resolution passed by the 
Senate, calling upon "the Secretary of the Treasury to commu- 
nicate to the Senate such information as he may have in relation 
to the expediency of repealing or modifying the act of June 30, 
183 i, concerning tonnage duty on Spanish vessels," Mr. Walker, 
Secretary of the Treasury, made a report, from which the follow- 
ing extracts are taken : 

" I have the honor respectfully to report that the law referred 
to, as well as a former law on the same subject, approved 13th 
July, 1832, were passed, it is believed, under an erroneous im- 
pression at the time respecting the true nature and effect of the 
navigation and commercial laws of Spain, so far as they operated 
upon American shipping and commerce. 

" It seems to have been supposed that the law of Spain made 
special discrimination against the United States vessels and car- 
goes, but so far as this Department is advised, it appears that no 
such discrimination existed, either at the date of those laws, or 
has since been established, operating exclusively upon the ship- 
ping and cargoes of the United States. The laws of Spain regu- 
lating commercial relations with her colonies, discriminate in 
favor of her own vessels and cargoes, as against the vessels and 
cargoes of all foreign nations. 



" The right exercised by. Spain to favx>r her own vessels in 
trading with her colonies is conceded, and cannot with propriety 
be complained of on our pa"rt. 'All that the United States can 
ask or expect, is to be placed on a perfect equality with the ves- 
sels of other nations participating in such trade ; and in this re- 
spect it is believed our vessels enjoy the same privileges as those 
of other foreign nations. 

" It is confidently believed that the operations of the acts of 
1832 and 1834 have had, and still have, an injurious effect on the 
revenue and trade between the United States and the islands of 
Cuba and Porto Rico, especially at such ports of the United States 
as have the most direct and intermediate intercourse with said 
islands. 

"In view of the foregoing circumstances, and being firmly im- 
pressed with the importance to the revenue of the United States, 
that the trade with the islands referred to should be relieved from 
the existing restrictions and embarrassments imposed by the law 
adverted to, I would respectfully recommend the repeal of the 
acts concerning tonnage duty on Spanish vessels, approved 13th 
July, 1832 and 30th June, 1834." 

Recent events beyond our own country, bearing directly upon 
Cuba and its trade, with the prospective and certain transit of a 
commerce of boundless wealth over the Tehuantepec route, throw 
around this subject an importance which it has never before pos- 
sessed ; and without investigating in detail their probable effects 
upon our relations with that island, the slightest political forecast 
will enable us to perceive the propriety and expediency of adopt- 
ing any measure which will shorten the distance between its 
shores and its people and our own. 

Strict observance of political justice in our intercourse with a 
foreign people — the special and prospective importance of culti- 
vating cordial relations with the inhabitants of Cuba — and due 
regard for the agricultural and manufacturing interests of our 
country — combine to demonstrate the propriety and expediency of 
adopting the measure which either of these considerations would 
so manifestly justify. 

The first consideration, fair dealing in our intercourse with for- 
eign nations, has ever been the established rule of our Govern- 
ment, and the importance of guarding it from the slightest inno- 
vation is too manifest to admit of a doubt. Our course in the 
matter now under consideration has neither been just to Spain 
nor to ourselves. But, by many of our people, and of those too 
whose interests are most involved, though as a people, the most 
intelligent on earth, the second and third considerations just ad- 
verted to, are either misunderstood, or they are regarded not in 
the light which their importance demands. 

A glance at the map of the Mexican Gulf will show the re- 
markable position of Cuba with reference to the trade of Texas, 
Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, the Mississippi, and Tehuantepec 
and Panama routes. This Gulf, like the Mediterranean sea, has 



but one outlet ; for, though a passage may at some particular 
times be successfully made through the Yucatan channel to the 
Caribbean sea, and thence out through the Mond passage to the 
windward islands, such a passage is always considered hazard- 
ous, if not impracticable, against the violent and opposing winds 
and currents which sweep over the entire route. Passages from 
the Gulf out on the south side of Cuba, are at all seasons tedious 
and uncertain ; but they are deemed by navigators as almost im- 
practicable from January to April, inclusive, and this is the very 
season when the Mississippi, the great artery of our commercial 
capital, with the ports of Texas, Florida, Alabama, and Louis- 
iana, sends abroad the cotton crop of the country, and when the 
immense agricultural wealth of the Great West is upon the sea, 
threading its devious way between the Cuba and Florida shores. 
From the statistics of the past, the value of American produce 
which will thus seek an outlet to the Atlantic highway of com- 
merce during the year 1852, cannot be estimated at less than 
$200,000,000 ; and this estimate is irrespective of the California 
and Pacific trade over the routes alluded to, and which, in the 
course of twenty years, will exceed all our present China and 
East India trade. The hills of Cuba overhang this passing 
wealth, and her people look down upon it as from sentry boxes. 
The right bank of the Mississippi is the north side of Cuba, as its 
left bank is the Florida Keys. Six steamers may bridge the in- 
termediate strait, and speak each other every fifty minutes ; and 
hence we may confidently predict that the first naval contest in 
which we shall ever be engaged, will be here near the Cuban 
shores,* whose secure harbors and abundant resources are open 
to all belligerents. 

These facts speak for themselves ; and comment upon the 
matchless geographical position of this island, and its inevitable 
connection with our future commercial and naval history, is un- 
necessary ; but they are rendered more significant when regarded 
in connection with the positions already occupied by Great Bri- 
tain on this continent, and her apparent disposition to "re-annex" 
territory at the South. 

She has, with that remarkable forecast which has ever distin- 
guished her statesmen, secured almost every important or salient 
point between the Coast of Yucatan and the Orinoco. She oc- 
cupies every rock and harbor of the Bahamas where a. gun can 
be planted or a ship moored ; and her military stations, her naval 
refitting and repairing resorts, extend from Trinidad, through the 
Caribbean sea and the windward islands, to Cuba ; and even at 
the lone and distant Bermudas she has a naval rendezvous. From 
these numerous points she looks out upon our immense commerce 
defiling through the Florida straits ; and were she possessed of 
Cuba, and a decided naval superiority, she would have her hand 
upon the gate of the Mississippi, and wayfarers to or from it 
would consult her. She has long been aware of the importance 

* Commodore Rodgers, in 1824. 



6 

of commanding this strait ; and in 1819, Mr. Huskisson, whose 
mind grasped every subject within the political horizon of his coun- 
try, called the attention of Parliament to the importance of tak- 
ing possession of the Tortugas Islands. 

These brief observations, hints rather, are made to illustrate in 
a measure the special and prospective importance of cultivating 
cordial relations with the people of Cuba in its present political 
condition. To those who look forward to or speculate upon the 
probabilities of its acquisition by purchase or otherwise, the wis- 
dom of connecting ourselves, and consequently our government, 
more intimately with it, is apparent. Open our markets to its 
vessels, invite her ships, her seamen, and her traders to our ports, 
multiply intercommunication with her people, educate her chil- 
dren, and let time pass on and bring about the rest. But while 
we have sent ships and presents to Muscat to induce its people 
to come to trade with us — while we have been endeavoring for 
years to increase our trade with China — and while we are at this 
moment engaged in an attempt to induce the Japanese to come 
to our ports to trade — we have effectually closed them to the ton- 
nage of Cuba, by making it the interest of its shipping to keep 
away. 

It may be useful to recur to the treaties that have existed, or 
are now in force, between this Government and that of Spain. 
The first treaty between the United States and Spain was that of 
"San Lorenzo et Real," made on the 27th of October, 1795, by 
Mr. Pinckney and Godoy, " Prince of Peace." It will be found 
in the 8th vol. U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 138. 

The next was a convention of indemnification between the Uni- 
ted States and Spain, made August 11, 1802, by "Don Pedro Ce- 
vallos" and Mr. Pinckney, ratified by the United States January 
9, 1804, and by the King of Spain, July 9, 1818. (See 8th vol. 
U. S. Stat, at Large, 198.) 

The Florida treaty, made 22d February, 1819, by Mr. Adams 
and " Don Louis de Onis," ratified by the King of Spain 24th Oc- 
tober, 1820, and by the U. States 19th February, 1821, and final 
ratifications exchanged February 22. (See 8 vol. U. S. Stat, at 
Large, p. 252. 

The last was a convention for the settlement of claims, made 
17th February, 1834, by Mr. C. P. Van Ness and Don Jose de He- 
redia, and ratifications of which were exchanged at Madrid Au- 
gust 14, 18j4. (See 8th vol. U. S. Stat, at Large, p. 450.) 

No provision in any of these treaties touches the subject under 
consideration, except perhaps the fifteenth article of the Florida 
treaty, which is in these words : 

" The United States, to give to his Catholic Majesty a proof of 
their desire to cement the relations of amity subsisting between 
the two nations, and to favor the commerce of the subjects of His 
Catholic Majesty, agree that Spanish vessels coming laden only 
with the productions of Spanish growth or manufactures, directly 
from the ports of Spain or of her colonies, shall be admitted for 



the term of twelve years to the ports of Pensacola and St. Augus- 
tine, in the Floridas, without paying other or higher duties on 
their cargoes or of tonnage than will be paid by vessels of the 
United States. During the said terra uo other nation shall enjoy 
the same privileges within the ceded Territories. The twelve 
years shall commence three months after the exchange of the 
ratification of this treaty." 

This term of twelve years expired on the 22d May, 1833. 

The commercial policy of Spain has ever been restrictive upon 
other nations, and especially so with reference to their trade with 
her colonies. The United States have made frequent attempts to 
effect a relaxation of these restrictions ; and though with some 
success as to the trade with the mother country, they have utter- 
ly failed to produce, to any important extent, an amelioration of 
the onerous restrictions upon the trade and navigation with the 
latter. The published documents of Congress show, it is believed, 
all the negotiation that has been had with Spain upon this sub- 
ject. I refer to the most important of them in note A. 

The duties charged by Spain on American shipping entering her 
ports (not those of her colonies) was, for many years prior to 
1817, about five cents per ton ; whilst at that very time, and for 
years afterwards, the United States charged upon Spanish ship- 
ping fifty cents tonnage, and fifty cents light money per ton. 

Our exaction of this heavy duty caused countervailing regula- 
tions by Spain upon our vessels, which operated quite onerously ; 
and in 1832, by the efforts of Mr. Van Ness, our Minister at Mad- 
rid, the Royal Order of the 29th April, 1832, was issued. This 
reduced the tonnage duty on American vessels in the ports of 
Spain to that charged prior to 1817, which was five cents per 
ton ; but the order was not to take effect until the tonnage duty 
on Spanish vessels in the United States should be equally reduced. 
This order did not include the colonies. We had charged tonnage 
duty on Spanish shipping under the act of 20th July, 1790, (Rev. 
laws U. S., p. 8,) and light money under the act of 27th March, 
1800, (Rev. laws U. S. p. 169,) and the discontinuance of these 
charges was authorized by the act of July 13, 1832. (Rev. laws 
U. S., p. 351.) Mr. Van Ness sought to induce the Spanish Gov- 
ernment to embrace within this royal order Cuba and Porto Rico, 
but it was refused. The charges in both islands were, however, 
reduced on American shipping to some extent, and have since, 
without reference to this order, been modified at different times. 

In applying a different rule to her colonial trade from that 
which she was willing to frame for her home trade, Spain but 
followed the lead of every commercial nation. The powers of 
Europe possessing colonies have ever claimed, that the carrying 
trade with them belongs exclusively to the mother country ; and 
general regulations respecting the trade of foreign nations with 
such mother country do not apply to the colonial trade, unless spe- 
cially included. Sound policy, without reference to commerce, 
dictates that the carrying trade of such colonies should be in their 



8 

hands, or in those of their colonies, and that the intercourse of 
foreigners with such colonies should be subject in all respects to 
the immediate exercise of their restraining power. Spain, above 
all other nations, contended for this policy. She ascribed the loss 
of her valuable possessions on this continent, in some measure, to 
a departure from it. And this policy, thus maintained by the old 
nations of Europe, is not dissimilar in principle to, and can, per- 
haps, be as well sustained by argument, as that adopted by the 
United States and enforced up to this hour, excluding foreign ves- 
sels from participating in our coasting trade. 

They are both based, as are all commercial restrictions, upon 
pure selfishness ; and whenever this principle mingles with legis- 
lation, its results, like those of selfishness in private life, are fre- 
quently worse than the evils sought to be averted. 

Finding that Spain would not permit us to participate equally 
with herself in the carrying trade of her colonies, we adopted to- 
wards her a coercive policy, and passed the act of 13th July, 
1 832, (" An act concerning the tonnage duty on Spanish vessels") 
the 2d section of which requires Spanish vessels coming from any 
of the colonies of Spain to pay in the ports of the United States 
the same tonnage duties that are levied on American vessels in 
such colonies ; and it requires the Secretary of the Treasury to 
ascertain these rates, and to instruct the collectors accordingly. 

This act failed to produce the desired effect, and the act of 30th 
June, 1834, still more stringent in its character, was passed. Its 
provisions are remarkable. Spanish vessels leaving the ports of 
the United States are required to file with the collector of the 
port from whence they clear, a bond with sureties in double the 
value of the vessel and cargo, that no portion of the cargo shall 
be landed in Cuba or Porto Rico. If they fail to give the bond, 
(as must be the case of all vessels destined to either island,) then 
the collector is required to collect from them a duty which shall be 
equal to the diferential duty chargeable in Cuba (or Porto Rico) 
upon the same cargo in a foreign vessel ; and this duty is called 
and returned by the collector as a discriminating tonnage duty. 
To place this in a broader light, I will state the following exam- 
ple : Suppose a Spanish and an American vessel, each of 200 
tons burden, and laden with one thousand barrels of flour, to 
clear from New York at the same time for Havana. On ente- 
ring at Havana the charges on the Spanish ship would be — 

Two hundred tons, at 5 reals (.$g) - - - $125 00 

"Ponton" duty, at If reals per ton - - - 43 75 



168 75 
On 1,000 barrels of flour, at $8 50 - - 8,500 00 



Total duty on ship and cargo - 8,668 75 



9 

On the American ship 200 tons, at $1 50 per ton - $300 00 
Per ton duty: If reals - - - - 43 75 



343 75 
On 1,000 barrels flour, at $9 50 - - - 9,500 00 



9,843 75 



Difference between the tonnage and cargo duties - $1,175* 

And the American collector in such a case would exact from 
the Spanish ship, before permitting her to depart, this difference 
of $1,175, which, as a tonnage duty on such a vessel, would be 
equivalent to $5 87j per ton. 

I have taken the article of flour as an illustration, because it 
is one of the first necessity, and because it is one upon which the 
Government of Spain is powerless to rescind her protective duty. 
A proposition in the Spanish cortes to admit foreign flour into 
the colonies on an equality with Spanish flour would be heard 
and treated with about the same excitement and indignation as 
would be a proposition in Lowel or Boston to abolish all duties 
upon the manufactures of cotton. 

Castile and La Mancha are the great producers of wheat, 
and have been called the granaries of the world, and in exchange 
for their flour they receive from Cuba her sugar, coffee, and man- 
ufactured tobacco. The article of flour too, strongly illustrates 
the suicidal effects of the acts in question. 

The returns of the Havana customs show that from 1826 to 
1833, both inclusive, there were 522,136 barrels of American 
flour entered there; of which, 318,244 were carried in Spanish 
bottoms; and that from 1834 to 1843, (after these acts were 
passed,) both inclusive, there were but 466,534 barrels of Ameri- 
can flour entered, only 135,197 barrels of which were carried in 
Spanish bottoms ; and that during the last year, 1843, there were 
but 310 barrels thus carried. During the eight years previous to 
the act of 1834, there were 55,602 more barrels than during the 
ten years subsequent to it. The annual average number of bar- 
rels carried from the United States in Spanish bottoms before the 
passage of the act, was 39,780, whereas but 310 were thus car- 
ried in 1843, after it had been in force nine years, and it is be- 
lieved that none have been so carried since that date. During 
the year 1849, as shown by La Balanza General del Comercio de 
la Isla de Cuba, the importation of flour into the Island was 
215,837| barrels, valued at $2,696,334^. Of this, there came 
from Spain, in Spanish vessels, 213,800 barrels, worth $2,672,500 ; 
and from the United States, in vessels other than Spanish, but 
797 barrels, worth $9,334^. Not one barrel is shown to have 
been imported from the United States in a Spanish vessel. 

* A small duty upon the value of the flour, estimated at $12 50 per barrel, and a bo- 
lanza duty — i. e., a per centage on the duty, makes the duty on Americon flour, in 
American bottoms, about $9 84| per barrel. 



10 

The object of the acts of 1832 and 1834, and the only object, 
was to coerce Spain into the adoption of regulations for the bene- 
fit of our commerce at the expense of her own ; and this object 
was sought without regard to her commercial treaties with other 
countries, which precluded her from extending modifications or 
favors to our shipping which would not apply equally to theirs. 
The act of 1834 was reported, advocated, and passed, exclusively 
as a retaliatory measure. As such, it was recommended by the 
President and sustained by his administration ; and Congress was 
informed that our Minister at Madrid believed that it would com- 
pel Spain to relax her restrictions upon our trade with Cuba and 
Porto Rico. Had a doubt of such a result been entertained, or 
had its consequences been foreseen, it could never have passed. 
The Congressional documents upon the subject show that it was 
passed at the instance of the navigation interest, and to protect 
that interest and "the honor of the American flag," as it was said, 
from Spain's "unjust" restrictions upon it, when at that very mo- 
ment our shipping actually engrossed twenty -six per cent, of the 
entire carrying trade of Cuba, while the flags of all the world, be- 
sides covered but twenty-four per cent, of it. The act was passed 
hurriedly, and without regard to the importance of the principle 
it involved. Had it imposed still heavier burdens upon Spanish 
vessels from Cuba, had its restrictions amounted to prohibitions 
upon entering our ports, its effects, so far as respects the repeal 
of the restrictions we sought to remove, would have been the 
same. Those restrictions were the result of Spain's peculiar con- 
dition. From having been the first naval power of the world, 
she saw herself stripped of almost every ship of war, and utterly 
destitute of a merchant marine. Possessing a seacoast of great 
extent, with some of the finest harbors in the world, the noblest 
colonies that ever a nation nourished, and material for seamen 
of admitted excellence, her carrying trade, even to her own colo- 
nies, was largely engrossed, if not monopolized by foreigners. 
She saw the policy of fostering a merchant marine, and this could 
only be done by encouraging the construction and navigation of 
vessels by her subjects, and by discriminating in their favor. Self 
preservation dictated this policy, and national pride sustained it. 
All commercial nations, our own included, have adopted it. 

The work was begun about twenty-eight years ago, and has 
been steadfastly pursued, and the result is that the Spanish Hag 
now covers a large merchant marine embracing some of the 
finest vessels afloat. 

This act, in effect, is equivalent to a declaration to Spain, (and 
thus is it regarded by the business men of Cuba,) that we will op- 
pose any attempt of hers to reduce, the burdens upon her own 
shipping. 

The following extract from the report of the " Fiscal " to the 
Captain General of Cuba, 1844, part 2d, No. 33, pages 278 to 
287, and No. 34, pages 288 to 201, will show how this question 
was regarded by the superintendency of the public revenue: 



11 

"To show the injustice of the measure, (alluding to the act of 1834,) let us compare 
the imports of the two countries — (Cuba and the United States.) Our vessels coming 
from the United States pay, on the value of their cargoes, from 174 to 214 per cent., and 
those of the Americans, with the same cargoes, from 24^ to 30^ per cent.; the difference 
between the two is from 7 to 9 per cent., giving a mean difference of eight per cent. — 
(p. 283.) 

"The government of the Union has the indisputable right to exercise equal discrimina- 
tions upon our vessels to protect theirs and the products of their country, as have all other 
nations ; but has it done so by the enactment of this law 1 ? No! may it please your ex- 
cellency, the American government has said that, in addition to the contributions com- 
mon to other vessels, those of Spain engaged in the trade of Cuba and Porto Rico shall 
pay an additional duty equal to the difference imposed in these islands between national 
and American vessels ; that is to say, if foreign vessels pay in the United States 20 per 
cent, more than American vessels, those of the islands must pay a differential duty of 28 
per cent., a duty which augments just in proportion as we decrease the burdens imposed 
on our vessels, though we do not increase those of the American vessels ! — (pp. 283-4.) * 

" In other words, may it please your excellency, it is equivalent to the declaration of 
the American government to that of his Majesty: In vain you think to protect your 
shipping, even at the cost of the public revenue; because just so much as you lighten 
your burthens upon it, just so much will we augment ours upon it! Such a violaton of 
the rights of nations can hardly be conceived on the part of a great and liberal govern- 
ment, and still less that it should be tolerated by Spain. — (Ibid.) 

" This violation is more flagrant and manifest as it respects exhortations. As to im- 
portations it is very well to levy equal (not different) duties upon cargoes imported into 
both nations reciprocally, because the productions of the country thus have protection; 
but with respect to exportations, what motive can the government of the United States 
have to levy this differential duty, if it be not the extinction of our shipping, even at the 
cost of her own productions? — (Ibid.) 

" Thus, then, if to-morrow our government shall deem it right to make a sacrifice of 
all parts of the imposts upon our marine, which it now pays, have strangers the right to 
.receive the same in their ports? Evidently no, your excellency! all they can rightfully 
do is to imitate the government of Spain, and to protect their marine at the cost of the 
same sacrifice. But to augment the duties on our vessels in proportion as we decrease 
them, when we do not increase those upon American vessels, and to convert this sacri- 
fice made by the Spanish government into a means for its destruction, is what has never 
been pretended to by any other nation, and cannot be tolerated by Spain without dis- 
grace." — (pp. 284-'5.) 

[A translation of other extracts from the same numbers of the " Fiscal' s Report" would 
(further exhibit the views of the Spanish authorities in Cuba, of the injustice of the act 
of 1834. The 34th number contains an exposition by the Fiscal of the loss of their 
revenue by the present mode of estimating the tonnage of American vessels, and sug- 
gesting that the American registered tonnage should no longer be taken, but that our 
vessels should be re-admeasured by the Spanish custom-house officers.] 

In levying tonnage duties upon foreign vessels we disregard 
their registered capacity, and subject them to the same admeas- 
urement prescribed for our vessels, though our system is different 
from those of England and Spain, and less accurate than either- 
Spain, on the contrary, in levying tonnage duty on our vessels, 
adopts their registered burden, which is generally from ten to 
twenty-live per cent, less than their actual capacity, and the 
Spanish authorities state that, as applied to American vessels in 
the Cuba trade, the difference is from thirty-seven to fifty per 
cent. It is unnecessary to explain how this occurs; it is no 
mystery to the shipmaster or merchant in that trade. On the 
20th January, 1840, a proposition was submitted by the "Fiscal" 
to ascertain the actual capacity of American vessels entering 
Cuban ports, and to charge tonnage duty accordingly, and the al- 
legation was then made that the registers of vessels in the trade 
did not show truly their tonnage even according to the American 
system of admeasurement. He also submitted the proposition 



12 

that provisions imported in Spanish vessels should be admitted to 
" deposite," (public storage free of duty on certain conditions,) and 
that this privilege should be withheld from American vessels. 
Spain may very properly adopt both these measures, and produce 
an immediate effect upon our shipping. A rigorous admeasure- 
ment of vessels alone would augment her revenue materially. 
And when we reflect that just to the extent that our vessels are 
undermeasured, the important objects contemplated, viz : the 
increase of her revenues from tonnage duties are frustrated, we 
must not be surprised to find that she has adopted them. Spain, 
or the Cuban Colonial Government, may otherwise, in various 
ways, annoy our traders, our citizens, and our shipping, within 
the jurisdiction of Cuba. 

May not Spain, upon the same principle that we have put 
forth to sustain the acts of 1832 and 1834, adopt other measures 
tending to the most disagreeable results to this government. By 
those acts we claim the right to disregard the internal political 
and commercial relations of Spain, founded on her constitutional 
laws with respect to her colonies, and to disregard her local and 
internal regulations ; and we claim the right and insist that, with 
reference to us, those relations and regulations should be held as 
nothing ; and that we may trade with the colonies precisely as 
with the mother country. To test the propriety of such claim, let 
us suppose that Spain should say to the United States, " Well, we 
will concede this principle ; we know nothing about your local 
internal relations in the United States ; we know nothing about 
your constitutional arrangements — we care nothing about them ; 
if we did know all about them, we have a right to disregard them 
in our commercial regulations with respect to your country. The 
law of self-interest is the law of nations on such subjects, and to 
that law only will we conform. 

Suppose she should say further, " the odious and and restrictive 
laws of 1832 and 1834 were for the benefit of one portion of the 
United States ; it is the portion whose interests are most antago- 
nistic to ours ; it is the portion whose feelings and sympathies are 
less congenial to my people in my colonies of Cuba and Porto 
Rico, than are those of the other sections of the United States, 
and my interests also prompt me to restrict my Cuba and Porto 
Rico commerce with the United States to the Atlantic ports south 
of Delaware bay, and to the gulf ports." What answer could be 
made by the United States to such arguments ? Could we, in the 
face of the acts of 1832 and 1834, gainsay the claim of Spain to 
disregard our internal relations, though founded on the Federal 
Constitution ? Would not Spain, in defence of such distinction 
made by her with respect to ports of the United States, be fur- 
nished as to us, by these acts, with a conclusive justification for 
such course ? Could we consistently remonstrate with Spain 
that by our constitutional laws all the States in the Union, with 
reference to foreign governments, are one, and that the laws and 
regulations as to trade and commerce with us must regard those 



-^ 



13 

laws ? Would such argument be any stronger than that Spain 
now urges? "My colonies, by my constitutional law, are not in- 
cluded in my general regulations of trade and commerce with 
other governments, and it is a fundamental principle of policy of 
my government to look to their trade as exclusively my own ; and 
when I have waived this rule, it has been because it was dictated 
by my own interests, or as a favor to my colonies, or to other 
governments." Would it be any answer to contend that our 
course is to coerce Spain to adopt the principle of "free trade" 
between her colonies and us, and that in her policy hitherto per- 
sisted in, and in the measures it is intimated she may adopt, the 
restrictive principle is sustained. It is presumed such answer 
would have little cogency till the principle of free trade becomes 
a part of the code of international law, extending to all coun- 
tries and their colonies. Nor will the argument that our resis- 
tance to such distinction between the States of this Confederacy 
and that between Spain and her colonies is based in both instan- 
ces upon the same rule, that one government is to look to every 
portion of another as one, receive much greater consideration. 
Spain can, with great force, dispute the analogy urged to sustain 
our consistency, and contend lor the wiser and more reasonable 
rule founded on dictates of comity, that every government should, 
in its relations with other governments, recognise and conform to 
their local and internal arrangements and laws ; and for her vio- 
lation of that rule in the measures adverted to, she would con- 
tent herself with a simple reference to the acts of 1832 and 1834, 
founded upon our assumed right to disregard the relations be- 
tween her and her colonies, as her justification. She would in- 
sist on the same right to adopt such commercial regulations as 
her interests might dictate, without reference to our local and in- 
ternal laws, as we have to do so in disregard of her internal 
laws. 

The encouragement of her own tonnage and seamen, and not 
the injury of those of other nations was her aim ; and to this end 
she chose to make a distinction in favor of her own tonnage in 
her coasting trade, (for the trade between the mother country and 
Cuba is nothing else ;) a distinction neither onerous nor invidious 
upon any particular flag, but equally applicable to all, and in fa- 
vor only of her own. And this discrimination, made in the exer- 
cise of a wise and patriotic discretion, was barely sufficient to 
effect the great national object in view. We have discriminated 
in various ways in favor of our tonnage and seamen, from our 
national birth to the present hour. We do not permit foreign 
vessels, or vessels in which foreigners own a timber head, to en- 
gage in our coasting trade ; and, to encourage our seamen, we 
compel our vessels to have two-thirds of the crew, exclusive of 
officers, Americans, under heavy penalties. And here, it may be 
remarked, that if the island of Cuba were to come into our pos- 
session, and be held and governed by a Territorial organization, 
we would most certainly withhold from Spain, and from every 



14 

other nation, the very privilege which we have attempted to co- 
erce from her. We demand the privilege of trading with her 
colony upon an equality with her ; and we say at the same time, 
if the colony should become ours, a similar proposition from her 
would not be listened to for a moment. We acquired from her 
the Floridas, and we limited the continuance of her commerce 
with them to the period of twelve years by a special article of the 
treaty of 1819, a privilege for which she gave an equivalent. 

Our flag was not particularized by her discriminations; and 
the attempt to coerce her into rescinding them, so far as regarded 
our flag, and to the abandonment of her settled policy, at the very 
moment, too, when we engrossed twenty-six per cent, of her car- 
rying trade of those islands, was unwise and ill-timed. Her restric- 
tions were confined to her colonial trade. We do not permit 
foreign tonnage to engage in our trade between the Atlantic 
States and California, a trade embracing voyages of three times 
the duration, distance, and hazards of those between Spain and 
Cuba ; and while we are endeavoring to force from her the privi- 
lege of thus engaging in her colonial trade, as if they were home 
ports, it may be as well to reflect whether we are prepared to 
reciprocate and permit her to share with us our coasting trade to 
Oregon and California. 

The act of 1834, professedly retaliatory, contemplated more 
than reciprocity. Its exactions upon Spanish tonnage from Cuba 
and Porto Rico exceed those which our vessels are subjected to in 
those islands ; and to this extent, at least, its operation is not only 
retaliatory, but vindictive. Upon foreign importations to Cuba in 
Spanish bottoms, the ad valorem duties vary from 17^ to 2\\ 
per cent ; and upon the same cargoes in American (or other 
foreign) vessels, 24| to 33^ per cent., the difference being seven 
and nine per cent., giving a mean discriminating duty in favor of 
Spanish vessels against all the world of eight per cent. 

The Cuba Tariff of 1847 assessed duties a little differently, but 
made the discrimination less by one per cent, at least. 

Now, it might be presumed that, if we designed retaliation 
simply, we would assimilate our restrictions to theirs, and charge 
but eight per cent, additional duty upon their cargoes brought 
into our ports. But such is not the operation of the act. Our 
tariff of 1842 levied a discriminating duty of ten per cent, upon 
dutiable merchandize imported in foreign vessels generally ; and 
by this act of 1834, section first, the eight per cent, duty collected 
as above stated on our vessels was imposed, and the differential 
duty of ten per cent, besides, making our discriminations against 
the vessels of Spain eighteen jjer cent., whilst her's against us 
amounted to but eight per cent. The tariff of 1846 levies a duty 
of twenty per cent, upon Cuba coffee in Spanish bottoms, though 
it is a free article in our own, and in this case the twenty per 
cent, being in addition to the eight per cent, before mentioned, 
our exactions exceed theirs in analagous cases by twenty per 
cent. 



15 

It is suggested that a comparison of the rates paid by Spanish 
and American vessels in Cuba with those paid by the same ves- 
sels in our ports, will demonstrate that our exactions far exceed 
those of Spain. I make no reference to the Havana local and 
port charge, called the " mud" or " dredge" duty, because it is 
analagous to various local charges collected in some of our own 
ports, and indeed in many ports of all countries, and is no more a 
just subject of complaint than pilotage or quarantine fees. But 
the most objectionable feature of the act of 1834 is, that its ex- 
actions are not fixed and determined, but vary with the legisla- 
tion of Spain upon her own shipping, though she may abstain 
from increasing the burdens of ours. If Spain, still more to en- 
courage her shipping, shall reduce its tonnage duties without in- 
creasing her charges upon our vessels, our exactions increase in 
exact proportion to such reduction. Suppose, for example, that 
the present rates were one dollar per ton on Spanish, and two 
dollars per ton on American vessels, the discrimination in favor 
of Spain would be one dollar per ton. But if she abolish the duty 
on her own vessels the discrimination becomes two dollars per 
ton, and this rate we would exact from her vessels clearing from 
our ports " in addition to all other legal charges^ 

The navigation interest of Spain is annually increasing, and 
relaxations upon her tonnage have been gradually made for years 
past, and will continue to be made, even at a great sacrifice of 
her public revenues. The importations into Cuba in Spanish ves- 
sels in the year 1849 amounted to $16,367,000, and in foreign 
vessels to $9,954,000 ; and hence it will be seen how greatly the 
revenue of the Island must have suffered by the discrimination in 
favor of her own shipping. 

Supposing that but half of these $16,000,000 would have been 
imported under her former laws in Spanish vessels, the differen- 
tial duty of eight per cent, on the other half would have been 
$640,000, a sum equal to five per cent, on her gross revenues. 
But her aim is to create a flourishing merchant marine, and this 
she will accomplish. Our legislation she believes is designed to 
thwart or retard the work ; and this belief, which is current 
amongst the merchants and ship owners of Cuba, has thus far 
disappointed, and will forever disappoint, the hopes which those 
who framed the act in question had of coercing her into our mea- 
sures. The operation of this legislation is thoroughly understood 
in Cuba to be unequal, unjust, and vindictive ; and it has not only 
failed to induce the slightest amelioration of the restrictions com- 
plained of, but has actually brought forth propositions from dis- 
tinguished officials to the government of Cuba for meeting it by 
countervailing exactions. We must not be surprised to see mea- 
sures of this character adopted there. 

Such a awtBfli by Spain would doubtless be opposed to the 
spirit of the age, and unsustainable upon any principle except 
that of retaliation. But passing events may, notwithstanding, 
induce her to adopt measures which may place the impolicy of 



16 

our legislation in a still more glaring light. It is unnecessary to 
name them. Another vexatious and onerous feature of the act 
of 1834 is, that it operates to some extent, upon Spanish vessels 
in the United States engaged in the trade with the mother coun- 
try, though it was designed only to extend to those in the colo- 
nial trade. As was before observed, the Spanish ship by her 
owner or consignee clearing from the United States, is required 
to give a bond, with two sureties, in double the value of the ves- 
sel and cargo, conditioned that no part of her cargo shall be 
landed in Cuba or Porto Rico. The amounts of such bonds are 
necessarily large, and their conditions more or less hazardous and 
responsible. Consignees and sureties can rarely be found wil- 
ling to incur such risks, and peril their property without some per 
centage above an ordinary commission of two and a half per 
cent. ; and superadded to the labor and difficulty which the Span- 
ish shipmaster encounters in a strange land in finding three 
moneyed men willing to become his securities, is the loss of pay- 
ing them for their risk. Thus even the trade between the United 
States and Spain in Spanish vessels, which is protected by mu- 
tual commercial stipulations, and which was not contemplated 
by the act of 1834, is embarrassed and retarded. 

The following statement of tonnage duties payable in Cuba, 
is taken from the Cuban tariff of 1847, the charges being now 
the same : 

" All vessels entering any of the ports of the island pay, if 
foreign, one dollar and fifty cents per ton, and sixty-two and a half 
cents per ton, if national. 

" All vessels clearing from any of said ports laden with molas- 
ses are exempt from tonnage duties. 

" All vessels that come and sail in ballast are not liable to duty ; 
but if they lade with fruits of the country or other articles (car- 
goes of molasses excepted) they pay according to the first regu- 
lation. 

" Vessels entering for water or provisions are exempted from 
tonnage duty, but if they unload their cargoes in whole or in 
part, or lade with the fruits of the country, or other articles (mo- 
lasses excepted) they will pay tonnage duty according to the 
first regulation. 

" All vessels, foreign or national, which have paid tonnage du- 
ties, and cleared from any port of the island, shall, if putting in- 
to any other by gales of wind or other accident, be exempt from 
new tonnage duty. 

" All vessels, foreign or national, in whatever condition and 
for whatever cause, entering the port of Havana, shall pay, in 
addition to the foregoing, one and three quarter reals (21^ cts.) 
for every ton of measurement, designed to maintain the ' ponton.' " 

The evil effects in part of our retaliatory legislation will be 
seen from the following facts : 

When the acts of 1832-'34 were passed, the population of Cuba 
was 750,000, and our exports to the island amounted to $5,672,700, 



17 

and they had been annually increasing in value. They consis- 
ted chiefly of beef, pork, lard, butter, dried, smoked, and pickled 
fish, cheese, flour, rice, hams, lumber, stoves, and manufactures of 
iron, wood, and cotton. She received lumber and salted fish as 
well from Florida as from the Eastern States. The produce of 
the West went from New Orleans, and the manufactures of the 
North from the Atlantic cities. The manufacturing and agri- 
cultural interests of our country were rapidly acquiring a decided 
preponderence over those of other nations in her markets. Situ- 
ated within eight hours sail of some of our territories, and but 
a few days distance from its large commercial and manufactur- 
ing depots, it was the interest of the Spanish merchant, trader, 
and navigator, to establish relations with our country for the 
prompt and profitable supply of Cuban demands. 

It was not uncommon at that time for flour to sell from thirty 
to forty-five dollars per barrel in the Havana market ; and a scar- 
city of any article of provisions or of manufactures, was readily 
supplied by the Spanish vessels in the American trade. I have 
shown that the export of flour in Spanish bottoms alone at 
this time, was at the rate of over thirty-five thousand barrels per 
annum. Cuba consumed (and this must ever be the case) large 
amounts of the fine fabrics, silks, linen, lawns, and laces, &c, of 
India, France, and England. These articles, subject to the ca- 
prices of fashion, and liable to deterioration upon long voyages, 
were exported from the United States to Cuba, with the privilege 
of drawback, leaving in the hands of American merchants and 
ship owners, commissions and freight ; and now that we have de- 
creased the width of the Atlantic one-half, and have weekly com- 
munication with the continent of Europe, it may be readily seen 
that this particular trade would be carried on between New York 
and Cuba if Spanish tonnage were permitted to engage in it. 

The farmer and the manufacturer will readily appreciate the 
difference between selling to the purchaser at his door, and send- 
ing his productions abroad to abide the perils of a sea voyage, 
and the expenses of freight, commissions, insurance, &c. And but 
for the act in question, the lumber and salted fish and much of 
the raw cotton of Florida, the provisions of the Great West, and 
the manufactures of the North would be sold at home to the Cu- 
ban trader. 

The act of 1834 has now been in force seventeen years, a period 
amply sufficient to test its policy ; and who can look at the pre- 
sent condition of our trade, and of our relations generally with 
Cuba, and fail to see how ill-timed and suicidal it was ? 

The population of Cuba is now (1851) 1,200,000, and its trade has 
greatly increased. In 1848 its imports amounted to $25,435,565, ^ / 
and its exports to $*;077,067, and in 1849 its imports amounted «£*, ^ 
to $26,320,460, and its exports to $22,436,556, making the aggre- 
gate trade of 1848, $51,512,632, and that of 1849, $48,757,016. 

Our geographical position, our admirable merchant marine and 
great agricultural and manufacturing interests, combine to iss- 
2 



18 

sure us that our participation, in this trade would steadily and 
measurably increase with the population and resources of Cuba ; 
and such must inevitably have been the result but for our expe- 
riment in retaliation. But, in fact, our exports have almost stood 
still. Our own Treasury statistics show the value of exports to 
Cuba for the year ending 30th June, 1851, to have been $6,524,1 13, 
a gain in seventeen years of $851,413. Great Britain and the 
continental countries trading with Cuba, adopted no retalitory 
measures to countervail her restrictions, and they have been 
greatly benefited by our unwise legislation, as the following table 
of Cuban imports for 1849, will to some extent, show: 

Imports in Spanish vessels. 

From Spain ... $7,575,130 06^ 

United States - - - - 11,048 00 

France ----- 770,920 00 

Great Britain ... - 4,345,299 00 

South America --- - 1,070,749 00^ 

Germany ----- 912,727 04 

Belgium ----- 323,297 01 

Holland - - - - - 17,104 00 

Denmark ----- 320,206 01^ 



Total value of imports in Spanish vessels - $16,366,844 06^ 

Deduct value of imports from Spain - - 7,675,130 06| 

The value brought in Spanish vessels from coun- 
tries other than Spain - - - $8,691,714 00 
Deduct imports in Spanish vessels from U. S. - 11,048 00 



Total imports in Spanish vessels from foreign 

countries other than the United States - $8,680,666 00 



From this it will be seen that the imports from the United 
States in Spanish vessels are but $11,048, while they amount to 
$8,680,666 in Spanish vessels from other countries foreign to 
Spain. 

Assuming that Great Britain's exports during the last fiscal 
year equalled those of the year 1849, (our last Spanish official 
returns,) our exports exceed hers only by $713,443; the value of 
ours being $6,524,113, and that of hers $5,810,670, while from 
France the Cuban imports were (1849) $1,252,457, and from 
South America, $2,197,630. 

Before the passage of the act of 1834, Cuba obtained her rice 
almost exclusively from our Southern States. It is subject to de- 
terioration and fluctuation in price. In 1849, the Cuban import 
of rice was 21,820,167 lbs., worth $1,092,597, of which the value 
of $799,563 only came from the United States. She now gets rice 
from Valencia, South America, England, Brazil, Holland, and, 
even from the free port of St. Thomas, where it is carried in Ame- 
rican vessels from the United States, and brought thence to Cuba 



19 

in Spanish vessels. What a commentary this upon commercial 
restrictions ! The Cuban imports of cotton manufactures for the 
same period amounted to $2,487,205, of which the value of all 
imported from the United States was but $73,931. 

Every traveller who lands from the United States in Cuba, a 
voyage which may be performed in eight hours, is sensible at 
once of the wonderful transition ; and the great feature of the 
transition is, the absence of every thing American ; and he is sur- 
prised, while English, French and German goods and manufac- 
tures are everywhere seen, to discover so few of those of his own 
country. 

In enacting the laws of 1832 and 1834, we seem to have been 
guided rather by the consideration of what Spain was gaining 
than of what we should lose. Tbey were unjust and ill-timed, 
and experience has fully shown their utter insufficiency to attain 
the end proposed. We then engrossed more of Cuban trade than 
all the rest of the world united, and forbearance on our part with 
restrictions which Spain could not relax towards us without re- 
laxing them equally with other nations, would have done more to 
affect their amelioration than all the aggressive acts we might 
have passed. We have driven her merchants and traders to seek 
in the ports of France, England, the Low Countries, and Russia, 
for a large class of products and manufactures which they would 
otherwise have obtained from us. But for this mistaken policy, 
the Northern and Eastern manufactures generally would have 
found their way to Cuba in Spanish bottoms ; and a market of 
great and progressive value would have been opened for a large 
class of products of the Middle, Western, and Southern States, 
which are now but rarely carried there. Spanish restrictions 
upon our vessels have the effect of confining them to the carriage 
of the ordinary staples of provisions, because they pay the best ; 
and our restrictions upon Spanish vessels deprive them of all 
chance of a profitable investment in any branches of the trade. 
Our agricultural and manufacturing interests are thus made to 
bear a heavy loss to foster a small portion of the shipping interest. 

One reason formerly given for fostering this interest viz : that 
our packets enjoyed a large passenger trade, in which it was un- 
wise to permit Spanish vessels to participate — if it ever possessed 
any weight, has lost it, since this branch of trade is now wholly 
engrossed by our steamers, which will continue to engross it under 
any circumstances. Previous to the acts in question, Cuba main- 
tained a trade with the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, mu- 
tually beneficial. The South has but few vessels ; and many of 
the agricultural products of her farmers, which would yield a 
handsome profit if their Spanish customers were permitted to 
come for them, will not pay for transportation under the present 
restrictive system — and a market for them is therefore lost. 
Spanish vessels that formerly engaged in this trade, taking from 
the South live stock, lumber, salt, salted fish, breadstuffs, rice, cot- 
ton, &c, brought in exchange their fruits, coffee, segars, and other 



20 




015 




products. But the act in question has not only deprived the ag- 
riculturalists of the South of a market, but it compels them, to 
some extent, to pay for these articles, in addition to their original 
cost, all the expense of importing them from Northern cities. 
Florida gets her Cuba coffee, &c, from New York. 

Florida possesses extensive and valuable fisheries, and great 
facilities for raising cattle. Both branches of trade will become 
highly profitable to her, and to Alabama, Texas, and every other 
State similarly situated, if Cuban vessels shall be encouraged to 
come to their ports to purchase. 

We have tested for seventeen years the act of 1834 as a com- 
mercial measure, and have sacrificed to it important interests ; 
and sound policy certainly dictates its repeal or modification. 
Should its repeal at this time be deemed inexpedient, its opera- 
tion may be suspended for a definite period ; but if neither mea- 
sure be adopted, it should certainly be so modified as to exempt 
Spanish vessels of less than eighty tons burden from its opera- 
tion. Such vessels could not compete with American shipping 
now in the trade, and they would limit their voyages to American 
ports contiguous to Cuba where no such trade now exists. 



F/7S3 




Conservation Resources 
Lig-Free® Type I 



